Mastery of a perfect bow hold and proper bowing motion is essential in learning to properly play a violin or viola. This involves the correct placement of the fingers and thumb on a bow as well as maintaining the correct bend of each finger and thumb.
Methods for teaching proper bow hold, commonly rely on a student visually observing the placement of the right hand on the bow and visually observing the bend of each finger and thumb. While such methods are useful in initially learning proper bow, students often have difficulty in continuously maintaining the proper bow hold. In a school environment it is common for the ratio of students to instructor to be quite large. It can be difficult for a single instructor to constantly visually critique the bow hold of a large number of students and it is common for considerable time to be spent on monitoring the student's bow hold.
A mechanism is needed that helps violin or viola students develop the habit of maintaining a proper bow hold while minimizing the need for the students to visually observe the bow hold. Preferably the mechanism minimally affects the feel of the bow and does not excessively constrain the fingers while stroking the violin or viola. In addition, a mechanism is needed that will accommodate a range of varying sized bows and hands and is easy to install, remove, and be used by junior high school aged children.